July 02, 2008

Summer in the City

In an email to someone today, I lamented summer was "flying by." But when I stop to think about it, now that I'm in the adult world--where, at least in my job, vacation is no more attached to summer than it is to any other time of year--it's a bit silly to regret. Sure, it's sunny. It's also humid. There are mosquitos. Fall may be my new favorite time of year. Fall with the woodsmoke smell, the cravings for oatmeal and soup, leaves blowing down in the wind, scotch and curling up in a blanket, and the coming October trip to New York.

In which case--hurry up, summer. Get a move on.

If you're in DC next Tuesday, I'm hosting another literary evening at the Arts Club. And this time, poetry! Finally! The specifics:

FLIRTING WITH THE MASTERS: Poets on Pablo Neruda

Tuesday, July 8 - 7:00 PM

E. Ethelbert Miller and David Keplinger will be “flirting with the master,” Pablo Neruda, in a summertime celebration of poetry. As an introduction to reading from their own work, Keplinger and Miller will each speak about Neruda’s influential life and his many dimensions as a writer, translator, and political icon.

David Keplinger directs the MFA program at American University. He is the author of three collections of poetry, most recently The Prayers of Others, which won the 2007 Colorado Book Award. E. Ethelbert Miller is the board chairperson of the Institute for Policy Studies (IPS), a board member of The Writer's Center and editor of Poet Lore magazine. His most recent collection is How We Sleep On The Nights We Don’t Make Love.

Ethelbert and David are both (I know this from experience) captivating readers. Neruda is near and dear to my heart thanks to the month I spent at the Millay Colony, reading his work and studying his adventurous life. This going to be fun. So if you're around, come celebrate the last reading before we go on break (to escape the doldrums of August heat).

I just learned that there will be a reception for the new director of the Writer's Center--Charlie Jensen!--on July 13. I'm so glad I'll get to see him before leaving for Sewanee the next day; I couldn't be happier at the news of his hiring. It's rare to get an administrative director who is so creatively talented in his own right, especially a younger person not yet blinded by red tape. It gives me a lot of hope for the future of the Center and what it can offer to the local literary community.

I'm finding that the older I get, the more willing I am to use exclamation marks in my writing and correspondence. I'm not sure what this means. Maybe I've given up even trying to be cool? James Dean would never use an exclamation mark.

7 comments:

i'm so glad you are giving up being cool! the essential wink is that this is the first step TOWARD being cool. ;)

Neruda was one of three poets that were my first loves. his love poems 'captain's verses' totally rocked my poetic world. his absolute romanticism also helped form my ideas about ignoring the sweeping and detrimental advice writers often get about what they should and shouldn't do. we should do what we do best!

Sounds like a fascinating event. A while back we had an event here in Kansas City with Martinez Estrada who is quite a Neruda scholar and has translated some of his work. There is no chance I’ll be in DC then, but if I was, it would be on my calendar.

Autumn is definitely my favorite time of year. This summer is depressing because of the pronounced lack of honey bees and what that could portend.

I've surprised myself lately by using exclamation marks where I used to loathe that in others' writing. I even ragged on my much younger brother-in-law about his excessive use of them. I become enthused or agitated by something online and have found that ! sometimes is the only way to emphasize my meaning. So I've had to eat my words...

I got to your page from the list on the Poetry Library. I have a Vermont Studio link because I had a residency there, but I turned it down because I would have been in my 3rd trimester. I reapplied for this year. Did you enjoy Vermont? I've always wanted to go. I have just started trying to publish poems so I don't really have a record. You have a nice site.http://poetverse.blogspot.com/

My first collection, Theories of Falling, won the 2007 New Issues Poetry Prize; my second collection, I Was the Jukebox, won the 2009 Barnard Women Poets Prize; my third, Count the Waves, is forthcoming in 2015. My most recent book is Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales From an Allergic Life, a memoir and cultural history of food allergy. My prose has appeared in The Oxford American, the Washington Post Magazine, and the New York Times. I teach with the University of Tampa's low-residency MFA program. www.sandrabeasley.com

Saturday, April 25 - 6 PM - Moderating an event with Meghan Daum (editor) and Elliott Holt (contributor) about Selfish, Shallow, and Self-Absorbed: Sixteen Writers on the Decision Not to Have Kids, at Politics & Prose in Washington, DC.

Monday, June 1 - Official publication date for Count the Waves (W.W. Norton).